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The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20071016181143/http://sunstar.com.ph:80/static/pam/2006/10/04/news/official.told.to.push.for.subic.clark.junction.in.angeles.html
Wednesday, October 04, 2006 Official told to push for Subic-Clark junction in Angeles By Dante M. Fabian
ANGELES CITY -- Local officials here are pressing Secretary Edgardo Pamintuan, Subic Clark Area Development (Scad) and Metro Luzon Urban Beltway (Mlub) chairman, to lobby for an interchange of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) in the city following the approval of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) in putting up the Mabalacat points of entry and exit.
Following a resolution authored by Councilor Jesus Sangil, Mayor Carmelo Lazatin, Vice Mayor Ricardo Zalamea and members of the City Council are calling on Pamintuan to press the BCDA to ensure the construction of an interchange that will provide the city with the economic opportunities vaunted to be brought by the SCTEx.
In the resolution, Sangil said the City Government will exhaust all extra means in stopping the construction of the toll road project if the BCDA fails to build the interchange in Angeles.
He said the mayor and the City Council believe that Pamintuan, being an Angeleño himself, should do much for the city in assuring the construction of the SCTEx interchange in the city, which even President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had approved for inclusion in the SCTEx project.
Sangil said Pamintuan, a former mayor of the city, will be a great help in lobbying for the inclusion of the interchange being a Cabinet member and major player in the development of SCTEP.
He said Lazatin is also banking on Pamintuan. "His (Pamintuan) voice is very important in our request because he is one of the board members who can contact directly the President," he said.
In the City of San Fernando, Mayor Oscar Rodriguez and the Advocates for the Development of Central Luzon (ADCL) recommended on Wednesday the provision of another interchange at SCTEx to serve Angeles City and at least five other towns of Pampanga.
The proposal of the "Angeles Interchange" comes even as the group that met in a forum with the BCDA and other sectoral leaders at the Herbs and Greens Restaurant in Barangay Baliti here continues to support similar proposals to create interchanges in Porac and Mabalacat.
"We continue to support the proposed interchange in Porac," said ADCL chairman Rene Romero.
Romero said an interchange in the Angeles City area, just outside the Clark Special Economic Zones (CSEZ), is ideal to prevent traffic jams in Porac if and when the proposed Porac interchange is opened and SCTEx is fully operational.
He explained that Porac's main roads may not be wide enough to accommodate the huge number of vehicles since all vehicles coming from various points of Pampanga like San Fernando, Bacolor, Apalit, Minalin and Angeles City would pass through the second district town to gain access to SCTEx.
Heavy traffic inside Clark may also be triggered if motorists would opt to use the two interchanges inside the ecozone as points of entry and exit to the soon-to-be opened tollway, he said.
"As much as possible, we do not want traffic jams building up inside Clark so as not to dishearten investors," Romero said.
He added that cargo trucks using Clark as point of exit from SCTEx may mean additional expenses for firms as they would have to pay customs fee to bring out their freight.
With the present traffic problems in Clark and Porac, Romero said the Angeles interchange should be opened. He said that instead of constructing bridges to connect San Fernando and Angeles City to the Porac interchange, the fund that would have been allocated can be used to erect another interchange.
The Angeles interchange will be accessible to the City of San Fernando, Apalit, Bacolor, Guagua, Minalin and other towns via the East Lateral embankment of the FVR Megadike or Manila North Road.
However, the BCDA said it would have to study the proposal first and determine possible funding.
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